1978: Oracle RDBMS Version 1
The main architect of the initial releases of the Oracle RDBMS was Bob Miner. To overcome the memory limitations of RSX, the code had to be split into two parts: the Oracle code and the user application code.

1979: Oracle RDBMS Version 2
The company—called Relational Software, Inc. (RSI) those days—doesn't offer its product commercially until 1979. That summer, RSI releases its Oracle database as version 2 rather than version 1, because the company believes potential customers might not purchase the initial release of a software product.

 

1980: Oracle RDBMS Version 3
This version introduces the concept of transactions and atomic execution of SQL statements. A user could make interim changes to the data that did not become permanent until they were committed. The user could choose to abandon the changes by rolling back the transaction. With version 3, RSI changes its name to Oracle, to more closely identify the company with its product. In 1981, Oracle begins developing a tool for data entry and reporting, called IAF (Interactive Application Facility.) 1984: Oracle RDBMS Version 4 Read consistency is the most important feature in this release. Moreover, the RDBMS is ported to the desktop PC. The MS-DOS version of Oracle runs in only 640 KB of memory.

 

1986: Oracle RDBMS Version 5
A true client-server configuration (multiple clients connecting to a single database server) is known as distributed processing. Version 5.1 introduced the concept of distributed queries, allowing a single query to access tables stored in multiple locations. The initial VAX cluster solution evolved via Oracle Parallel Server to Oracle9i Real Application Clusters.

 

1987: Applications Division
In 1987 Oracle begins developing business-management software, closely integrated with its database. Most of these products are developed by Oracle from scratch.

 

1989: Oracle RDBMS Version 6
In Oracle version 6, the kernel is almost fully rewritten; for example, the before image file is replaced by rollback segments. Many OLTP performance enhancements are included. The PL/SQL support and row-level locking are available as the transaction processing option (TPO). Oracle version 6 also introduces the concept of savepoints, enabling you to rollback parts of a transaction without closing the transaction itself. The Oracle Parallel Server facility was only available on VAX clusters and on the nCube (a MPP machine.)

 

1993: Oracle7
Oracle7 takes about four years of development and two years of testing, and comes with an impressive list of new features. In 1994, the first attempts are made to support multimedia content, resulting in the media server, running on the nCube. In 1995 Oracle launches a set of data warehousing features, including parallel query execution. This allows queries to be broken up and executed in parallel, using multiple processors of a symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) machine. In the same year, Larry Ellison introduces his vision of the network computer (NC). In 1996 all products are ported to the Windows NT platform, followed by a multinode scalable database for Windows NT clusters.

 

1997: Oracle8
Oracle7 is still a client/server product; Oracle8 brings the internet and network computing paradigm. The database includes support for object-oriented development and multimedia applications; it also has features for handling both large numbers of users and large amounts of data.

 

1999: Oracle8i 
This product is called the internet database because of its new features, designed to support internet-based activities and applications. It comes with a JVM, native Java support, and SQLJ - an open standard for embedding SQL statements into client or server Java code. Another new product is Oracle interMedia. Oracle8 and Oracle8i are ported to Linux. Raw Iron: Oracle starts shipping servers with Oracle's database preinstalled and running on a slimmed-down operating system, bringing lower costs and simpler operations to smaller organizations and departmental computing. Oracle also starts testing Business Components for Java (BC4J).  Oracle WebDB for Linux becomes a popular download from the Oracle Technology Network. It is a free browser-based tool for building, managing, and monitoring database-driven Web sites. The tool will eventually mature into portal technology.  To help users more easily manage files, Oracle releases internet file system (iFS) in May 2000.

 

2001: Oracle9i 
Probably the most exciting new feature that comes with Oracle9i is Real Application Clusters, with its cache fusion technology, resulting in transparent scalability on inexpensive, clustered hardware. Oracle9i also results in record-breaking TPC-C benchmark results.

 

Oracle Database 10g
Primary goal: Build a self-managing database that requires minimal human intervention.
• Reduction in administration cost without compromising high availability, scalability, and security.
• Minimal performance impact
• Effective for all configurations and workloads